My goal is to have this PC run The Division, GTA V and some graphics work, with no problem.

My main question is if I need the i5-6600K 3.5GHz or if I could get away with the i5-6600 3.3GHz or i5-6500 3.2GHz
Also similar with GPU, the GTX 960 also comes in 2GB, do I need the 4GB?

Link has full build (minus SSD, and optical drive from old PC) but I've highlighted most of the parts below.

CAD prices
http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/WCsFBm

MSI GeForce GTX 960 4GB Video Card
Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory
MSI B150 Gaming M3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard

Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Corsair RM 450W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler

Any thoughts and/or suggestions are welcome.

This post was edited by Slothish on Mar 6 2016 02:26am

Well a overclocked i5 is not really needed when youre only using a 960. Even a i5 6500 would be enough to feed a 960.
But when you save some money at the CPU you can actually affort a better grafics card, which will give you overall a much better gaming performance.

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/jM7HkL - will perform much better in games and is even cheaper when you remove the ssd.

As for the grafics work... that always depends on the programm. Photoshop and so on dont require much. Most 3D softwares support GPU rendering, but some technoligies like IRAY are exlusive to nvidea or amd. So check which software you want to use before you buy a grafics card.

This post was edited by maulepan on Mar 6 2016 05:19am

this rig will run the division and gtaV in high settings

reccomended requirements for high settings for division are pretty high.. 3.2ghz quad core intel cpu, 8gb ram, 970 vid


Base Total: $1549.94
Mail-in Rebates: -$50.00
Shipping: $15.98
Total: $1515.92

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/2kwvHx

I've also themed it to be white'/black/silver, includes win7 pro

This post was edited by Canadian_Born on Mar 6 2016 06:43am

the point of getting an overclockable cpu is to not replace it as often

i'm running a 3570k and i run everything fine STILL
i would have HAD TO UPGRADE to skylake if I just went with a 3570.

you have to replace a graphics card every 2-3 years if you go the "modest" route (no furys/980ti's/titans and the like) anyway.

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/b2tFBm

you ppl confuse me
are you reusing your SSD + optical drive?
i also forgot the OS

This post was edited by Penguins0690 on Mar 6 2016 12:46pm

where do you get this bullshit? a non-k 3570 is only 15% slower then a modern non-k 6600 and about 10% faster then the i5 6400. So even at stock speed that cpu is still fine today. Processors simply did not get much faster in the last couple of years.

This post was edited by maulepan on Mar 6 2016 12:57pm

I really like this build.
I do however really want a fully modular PSU , and the money saved around the build, there's really no harm in keeping the 6600K in there.
I have a Hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler brand new in the box as well, so to be able to use it on the 6600K makes up for the difference in price cost to the 6600. Costs $30 more for the 6600K, but then I'm not letting this $35 fan go to waste
Tweaked it a bit.
http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/8xyd3C





This is also a nice one, but a little more expensive.




That's one of the reasons I like the K CPU, trying to future-proof it a little.
The PC I'm buying this to replace was a $800 PC from 6-7 years ago. Hoping for it to last similarly as long.

Not a fan of the Seagate HDD (minor thing, I know, I've just had problems with Seagate and Zotac in the past).

Yes I have SSD + optical drive + OS already.

You also need a Z170 chipset when you want to overclock your cpu.
http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/VVqMqs

Also i dont really see any reason to go for a fully modular power supply, since the only cables constantly attached are the main board and CPU connecter, but its your money and your build.

I get it from personal experience?
We've had this conversation already... not even a month ago lol

Right Z170.
It's true about PSU, not necessary to have full. Tinkering around, got a semi modular bronze 550W. Stepped the memory up to 2400 as well.
http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/DkwbFT
550W is more than enough, right? I was using http://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator and the highest wattage I could get it to that I might actually do in real life was 368W. (pc part picker says 337W)

This is probably very close to a final build (if not THE).

Thanks a bunch for your help, and the others as well.

This post was edited by Slothish on Mar 6 2016 02:47pm

550 watt is not enough. You system already eats like 350 watt at base clock. It will go far past that when you overclock it. Since you dont want your PSU to run close to 100% load all the time you should really invest into a bigger one. This also gives you the option to switch to higher powered components like the AMD polaris once it is released.

This post was edited by maulepan on Mar 6 2016 03:23pm